Here are seven great Bible verses about Abraham.
Genesis 12:4 “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”
This was the initial call of Abram (later changed to Abraham) was to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1). Remember that Abram had no idea who God was or where God was sending him. To do this, Abram had to leave his country, which meant his job security, his relatives, his friends, and go to a place that was unknown to him by sight. There isn’t even a hint that Abram had to think about it. It simply says “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” Can we be as faithful as Abram to go wherever the Lord our God may call us to go?
Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
It shouldn’t surprise us that Abraham’s called the father of the faithful and to the Jews, they recognized him as being their patriarch who came with all the great and precious promises. Of course they’re right, but Jesus told the self-righteous Jewish leaders that it’s not enough to be the children of Abraham so “do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matt 3:9). Tragically, Jesus tells them: “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 8:11-12).
Genesis 15:6 “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
The fact that we’re saved by faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone, is not something new. Abraham, just like Noah, believed God and God “counted it to him as righteousness.” He will accredit to us His righteousness too (2nd Cor 5:21) if we repent and believe in Jesus Christ. To believe in Christ means to put all your trust in Him because He is more than worthy of our trust.
Hebrews 11:17 “ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son.”
Talk about a gigantic display of faith! Abraham believed God and was willing to sacrifice his only son as “it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb 11:18-19). Abraham knew from experience that God would keep His promises, even if He had to raise Isaac back to life. There is very strong imagery of God sacrificing His one and only Son, and indeed, He was raised on the 3rd day.
Galatians 3:6 “Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
James also wrote of Abraham, saying “And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God” (James 2:23). Imagine being called a friend of God by God Himself. What a friend we have in Jesus, right? Abraham’s faith was known to all the Jews of Jesus’ day, but did they really understand that to believe in God meant to trust in Him? They believed in God but rejected His Son. To simply believe in God is not enough to save us because even the demons believe and fear and tremble before Him (James 2:19), but that’s not saving faith. Abraham did more than believe in God; He trusted in God, doing whatsoever He commanded him.
Genesis 26:3 “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.”
Abraham’s faith was tested several times but one of the greatest tests was for him to sojourn to a land he had never seen and this came with God’s ironclad promise; “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen 26:4-5). What we would do? Would we have the faith that Abraham did and leave everything that’s familiar to us?
Galatians 3:29 “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
The fact that we Gentiles have been grafted into the natural olive tree, Israel, we are the offspring of Abraham since we’re the very children of God, just as the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom 4:13). The promise is to Abraham and all his offspring but that’s not salvation. No one gets into the kingdom on someone else’s coattails. Each person must repent and put their trust in Christ. Abraham repented in a sense; he left all that he knew and turned to and followed God and because He believed and obeyed God, “it was counted to him as righteousness” (Gal 3:6b).
Conclusion
Abraham is mentioned by name (including Abram) nearly 300 times in the Bible. He was a central figure in the history of redemption. It was through Him that this Promised Seed came, and that was obviously Jesus Christ. This God-Man would redeem a people for Himself so that God would receive full glory. We cannot boast about our own salvation (Eph 2:8-9), only our own unworthiness (Rom3:10-12, 23), but as the Scriptures tell us why God’s grace is so amazing: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2nd Cor 5:21).
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.